One focus that has been driving telecommunications technologies is improving and retaining the connection or “call” between two or more parties. Little has been done to address the age-old problem of politely and discreetly interrupting and/or disconnecting a call. Practically every party to a call, also referred to herein as a “telephone call” or “phone call”, at some time or another, has had the desire, for various reasons, to interrupt and/or disconnect a call in mid-conversation. For example, disconnection might be desired in a business setting where the conversation by the other party has gone off-topic or has become protracted. When such events occur, productivity comes to a standstill and stress levels rise in the party trying to figure out a way to end the call without appearing to be impolite, offensive, or disinterested.
A call may be disconnected on a common corded phone (“phone” and “telephone” are used interchangeably herein) by simply hanging up, such as, by depressing the switch-hook or cradling the handset. A call may be disconnected on a wireless phone, such as, but not limited to, a cordless or mobile telephone, by pressing the “end”, “off”, or similar button. In either case, call disconnection will be perceived by the other party as a hang-up and will be instinctively interpreted as aggressive, rude, and/or offensive behavior. The hang-up will be long remembered, harmful, and possibly lead to the disconnection of a desirable relationship. This would be detrimental not only for personal relationships, but also for business relationships.
For lack of a better method, a party may resort to a “socially acceptable” excuse to terminate (“terminate” and “disconnect” are used interchangeably herein) the call. In many cases, the conversation may be so controlled by the other party that even a well-formulated excuse may never have an opportunity to be voiced in the conversation, let alone lead to a polite conclusion of the call. This results in the continuation of the call to the dismay of the party desiring an end to the call.
FIG. 1 illustrates a terrestrial and astral telecommunications system (TATS) 1. The TATS 1 comprises telecommunication devices or phones 10, such as mobile phones 12 and corded phones 14, network nodes 25, transmission/receiving antennas 20, satellites 26 and satellite transmission/receiving antennas 28, all of which are capable of bring in communication with one another. Phone-to-phone telecommunication provides the means in which two or more people may communicate. The phones 10 are each coupled to a network node 25, which is a component of a network, one or more of which make up the TATS 1. One example of a TATS 1, among others, includes a landline network 5, such as a Public Switched Phone Network (“PSTN”), in combination with a mobile phone network 3.
FIG. 2 is a schematic of a corded-phone main functional-components (CFMFC) 101 of the corded phone 14 shown in FIG. 1. The corded phone 14 comprises a base unit 15 having a handset 16 and a keypad 43 for data entry. The corded phone 14 is electrically coupled to the landline network 5 with a phone cord 23 comprising wires. The handset 16 comprises a microphone 49, a speaker 48, and associated conductive paths 47. The microphone 49 detects sound pressure waves 149 originating, such as, from a user's voice, and generates an outgoing analog electrical voice signal 249. The outgoing analog electrical voice signal 249 is commonly in the form of instantaneous voltage fluctuations. The outgoing analog electrical signal 249 is transmitted along the phone cord 23 to eventually be received by another phone 10. A received analog electrical signal 248 coming from another phone 10, for example, is transmitted to the speaker 48. The speaker 48 converts the received analog electrical signal 248 into acoustic energy 148 that can be heard by the user. Many current landline networks 5 convert the analog electrical signals 248, 249 to digital formats to assist in transmission through wire, fiber optics, and high-power wireless transmission.
The corded phone 14 remains famous for providing high quality sound and reliability of retaining a phone connection due, in part, to the relative simplicity of design. The “wired” network, such as the landline network 5, whether transmitting signals using wires, fiber optics, and high-power wireless transmission, is relatively robust against signalloss, noise, and dropped calls.
Referring again to FIG. 1, mobile phones 12, including those devices having integrated mobile phone functions, are in widespread use for business as well as for personal wireless telecommunications. Mobile phones 12 provide users the freedom of mobility, as they are not coupled to the phone cord 23 of a landline network 5 in order to place or receive a call. Mobile phones 12 transmit and receive a radio-frequency signal using one or more wireless technologies, such as analog cellular, digital PCS, GSM, satellite, and/or other well-known technologies over the mobile phone network 3.
FIG. 3 is a schematic of the mobile phone main functional components (MFMFC) 100 of the mobile phone 12 shown in FIG. 1. The mobile phone 12 shares many of the same basic components as the corded phone 14, such as a keypad 43, a microphone 49, and speaker 48. The phone cord 23, though, is replaced by a transmit/receive antenna 46 and associated components to provide wireless telecommunications.
The MPMFC 100 comprises, generally, a transceiver circuit 104 and a controller circuit 102. The transceiver circuit 104 comprises components for sending and receiving telecommunications, and the controller circuit 102 generally comprises components for operating and managing the functions of the mobile phone 12.
The transceiver section 104 comprises the microphone 49, speaker 48, and signal processing components 51. The microphone 49 detects sound pressure waves 149 and generates an outgoing analog electrical voice signal 249, commonly in the form of instantaneous voltage fluctuations, which is transmitted to an analog-to-digital (A-D) converter 52. The A-D converter 52 converts the outgoing analog electrical voice signal 249 to an outgoing binary electrical voice signal 349. The outgoing binary electrical voice signal 349 is transmitted to a digital signal processor 56, which performs several processing functions on the outgoing binary electrical voice signal 349 to generate an outgoing modulation signal 449. The digital signal processor 56 transmits the outgoing modulation signal 449 to a radio-frequency circuit 58 that produces a transmission signal. 549. The transmission signal 549 is transmitted by way of the antenna 46 over the mobile phone network 3 to a receiving device, such as a terrestrial antenna 20, satellite antenna 26, among others, shown in FIG. 1.
A reception signal 548 is received by the antenna 46 and is transmitted to the radio-frequency circuit 58. The radio-frequency circuit 58 processes the reception signal 548 to produce an incoming modulated signal 448. The incoming modulated signal 448 is transmitted to the digital signal processor 56, which de-modulates the incoming modulated signal 448 into an incoming binary electrical signal 348. The incoming binary electrical signal 348 is transmitted to a digital-to-analog (D-A) converter 54, which converts the incoming binary electrical signal 348 into an incoming analog signal 248 and subsequently transmitted to the speaker 48. The speaker 48 transforms the incoming analog signal 248 into auditable sound pressure waves 148 that can be perceived by the user.
The controller circuit 102 comprises, in general, a keypad 43 having several buttons 44 that enable various operations to be performed, including dialing a phone number, inputting a phone number into an alphanumerical database, and so on. In addition, one of the buttons 44 is provided for initiating a call, often labeled “send,” and another button 44 is provided for disconnecting the call, often labeled “off” or “end.” An alphanumeric display 42 provides a visual display of the status of the mobile phone 12, including such information as signal strength, remaining battery capacity, the number which has been dialed, and so on.
A microcontroller 59 provides an electrical interface between the alphanumeric display 42 and keypad 43 and various components of the transceiver circuit 104. The microcontroller 59 also provides an electrical interface to the transceiver circuit 104 via the digital signal processor 56, the radio-frequency circuit 58, and/or other components of the MFMFC 100. Instructions executed by the microcontroller 59 co-ordinate MFMFC 100 operations in response to various data, such as the activation of the buttons 44, and signals provided by the MFMFC 100, including, such as, but not limited to, battery strength and signaling information extracted by the digital signal processor 56.
A common and aggravating problem associated with mobile phones 12 is the unexpected loss of signal strength which results in poor sound quality and dropped calls. This loss of signal strength is associated with, among other things, line-of-sight issues wherein terrain and/or obstacles come between the mobile phone 12 and the transmission/receiving antennas 20 of the mobile phone network 3. Loss of signal strength is also associated with the limitations of the mobile phone service coverage by a particular service provider.
Many attempts have been made to improve and overcome poor mobile phone connection issues, including implementation of digital network technologies and associated hardware and software technologies both within the mobile phone 12 and the associated equipment of the mobile phone network 3. Sound quality and frequency of dropped connections have been greatly improved but have yet to reach the quality of the landline network 5 and corded phones 14.
There remains the unanswered need to provide a mechanism in which calls may be immediately interrupted and/or terminated in mid-conversation in a polite and relatively non-offensive way. The need is particularly acute for a society of mobile phone users where “always connected” is a way of life.